The present invention relates to a game of skill in manual control and requires the coordinated use of both hands and fingers in three directions: laterally in two orthogonal directions and rotationally. The skill and dexterity of a game player or operator are measurable. The apparatus may also be utilized to help players develop and improve manual skill and dexterity.
Many games based on the use of manual dexterity have been developed in the past. Two have recently been conceived by the present inventor, one with one bar (U.S. Pat. No. 4,561,656) and another with two bars (U.S. Pat. No. 4,669,727. They most often involve the use of only one hand, seldom two concurrently, except for the second Patent reference cited. Usually, an apparatus conceived for game-playing does not provide the gradual transitional phase between on and off, with the feedback needed to exercize control, while the operator attempts to correct for failings that can be foreseen. Seldom do such games and apparatus provide a simple, automatic, visual and permanent record of the degree of skill then achieved.
Efforts are continuously being made to develop new games and toys which provide opportunities for persons of various ages to measure and gradually improve their manual dexterity. For example, it is desirable for the operator to be able to increase the level of the difficulties to be overcome in order to succeed as he (she) becomes more proficient. Also, it is desirable to enable the operator to alter the degree of difficulty built in the apparatus to match the stage of manual skill development which has been reached or will be reached in the future with practice.
In view of this background, the present invention provides those features which skill games require and offers improvements in ways to develop and measure the degree of manual skill and dexterity which demand the coordination of both hands by means of the fingers.